The Name That Soap contest is now closed. In no particular order, the top contenders are;
1)Spring Renewal/Renew/Renewal
2)Morning Dew /Dew Drop
3)Summer Rain

Remember, this soap has a grapefruit, lavender, and eucalyptus scent, and is colored with Nettle, French Green Clay, and Spirulina.

Please let me know what you think by casting a vote for the number you like best! If you have a preference for an alternative that is listed by that number, by all means, feel free to let me know that too!  The Winner will be posted tomorrow!

Tripod Thursday- Soap, soap and more soap

This first slide show contains the new product shots that I have been working on. While I still have about 25 batches yet to get on film, you will get the idea from these. Please let me know what you think about these. In preparing for my new web site, I thought that more uniform product pictures would be best, but now I am questioning my decision.
The second slide show is of the soap making process and the majority of the soaps that I have now.

Enjoy!

Tripod Thursday- Soap Morphs

Since Wednesday just flew by me, I am combining a "What's Up Wednesday" post with the "Tripod Thursday" one.

As you know, among other things, I make soaps. Usually I prefer to make what we call cold process soap, or cp soap for short. It is where you take lye and mix it with fats (oils and butters) and they react, heat up, and create soap. Now this process is truly an amazing event and it can be quite surprising too. One of the most surprising things that can happen is what we call "morphing". This is when you put in and see one color and end up with another. I don't just mean the thing you would expect, like mixing a blue and a yellow and getting a green. I mean, having a very pretty beige and a caramel colored soap when you look at it, and a few weeks later you have an all dark brown soap. This is an instance where the soap morphed. Morphing is usually caused by the ingredients in the soap reacting to the lye. Fragrance oils sometimes cause morphing, and anything that has vanilla in it, even if only a small amount, will usually morph as well. In fact, vanilla morphs brown. When sugars are added, as in milk soaps or honey, those will morph a tan to dark brown, depending upon the sugar content of the milk. Goats milk turns very orange for a time in the pot, looks caramel when curing, and goes brown by the time it's cured. As soapers, we generally expect vanilla and milks or honey to change our soap, so we compensate for that or at least expect it. But sometimes we are surprised by the morphing and can only explain the "why" by saying the gremlins came and visited!  Nobody really expects red hibiscus powder to turn gray/brown in cp soap, but it does. In melt and pour though, it is quite a lovely pink/red!
At any rate, here are pictures are of my morphed soap. I did expect the baby soap to go brown, as I used goat's milk in it. But the others were surprises. I maybe should have guessed that "Sugared Chestnuts" would go brown, but I didn't. Even so, while I consider all that dark brown to be ugly, it smells divine, and it doesn't stay on the shelf very long!  Besides that, many of my male clients, or females buying for the men in their lives, really enjoy the browns. Besides that, soap is soap, and good soap is good soap, even when brown! Lol!

Tripod Thursdays-Autumn Soaps, Fall Scents

I know we are in the midst of summer heat, but schools will be starting in just two weeks, and soon thereafter the leaves will begin to change, and the cool, crisp weather of Fall will begin. 
Since soap takes a good six weeks to two months to cure I am always a season ahead in planning,  and since I am just one person, and tend to be getting slower in my old age, lol, I really have to begin making the next season's products while they are far from most people's thoughts. 
Every August I begin by making melting snowmen, snowman face bulbs with hats, and sparkling, crystal Christmas ornaments, because about eight weeks before Christmas, I will be delivering at least four dozen ornaments to Christmas at the Cabin, as well as other craft items.
But, before the winter snow flies and Christmas comes, Autumn and the Wine festival will be here. So I have been busily creating fragrances appropriate for Autumn and in the spirit of the  wine festival. So today's Tripod Tuesday covers most of the soaps that I consider to be the Fall line. I still have an "Aged Oak Apple" that I am making this week, with Fosters Lager. It's a nice beer soap, with a scent that just speaks Fall to me! After this one, I will begin the more wintry and holiday blends. 
I hope you enjoy this soapy preview!
   

What's Happening Wednesday- Dead Sea Salts and Mud

I hope that everyone had a lovely Memorial day weekend! I apologize for not having a post the past few days, once again the auto-settings did not work, I guess I will give up on that feature! So what is happening this Wednesday? Well......business wise I only managed to get 3 batches of soap made this long weekend, and one of those really was a failed batch. It smells great, but it looks......well it looks like my Grandson played with his finger paints and ended up with soap. No, actually that is not quite true either, because I would love whatever his painting looked like, but this soap, well it is the ugliest thing I've ever made!


You may think that I am exaggerating, but I promise you, I am not! I was trying to "paint" a scenery picture by pouring various colors over a layer of uncolored soap. I had this lovely gardenesque type painting in mind, some grass on the bottom with splashes of color for flowers, a setting sky with several colors blue, pink, red, maybe some mountains in the background. Sounds lovely, right? Well it certainly didnt turn out that way! The colors began setting the soap faster than I could work for one thing, and the "glops" just didnt make a nice painted effect. Then, the coloring wasnt correct either, AND, on top of that,  it never dawned on me [before I began making it that is], that it would never look right when cut into bars, even if it did turn out pretty!


In my defense, I think the 90 degree heat here was boiling my brains or something, as the cabin doesnt have central air, and the window air conditioner wasnt in yet!  So the question now becomes, what on earth do I do with this ugly, smell good soap? LOL. My lovely friend who spurred me on with this experiment, thank you Cathy!,  has come up with a few ideas to salvage it, but I don't know that anyone would even want this as a sample. It is not really a soap I would feel comfortable offering to a charitable organization, nor can I imagine them accepting it! Lol. So here is my question.....I have participated in a "pay it forward" deal in one of my Etsy shops before. For those unfamiliar, this is basically am inexpensive deal. Usually the product is listed with the price being the cost of the listing fee (20 cents), and some people have the buyer also pay for  postage, others do not.At any rate,  I am wondering if this would be a good way to get rid of this failed batch. What do you think? Would you mind a truly ugly bar of soap if all it cost you was postage (actual postage not "and handling"!) and 20 cents?  Please, please make a comment of yea or nea, and any thoughts or ideas you have on the subject. I really need help here. I could just rebatch the whole deal, but I think it would still be ugly, because all of the colors would just be mixed together then.


Now, since I didnt get the Teaching Tuesday post up, I want to go ahead and share that with you now.
many have heard of the Dead Sea and its famous Salts and Mud, but many dont know WHY these products are good to use. So lets look at it, shall we?
________________________________________________________________________________



First of all, some background.


To begin with, as the name suggests, the Dead Sea is devoid of life, due to an extremely high content of salts and minerals. 
It lies some 400 m below sea level at the lowest point on the earth's surface, and is a part of the Syrian - East Africa Rift Valley, flanked by the Judean Mountains to the west and the Moab mountains to the east... Having no outlet, the Dead sea is a "terminal lake" which loses huge amounts of water by evaporation into the hot dry air. This results in high concentrations of salts and minerals, and in a quite unique composition too. The Dead Sea has up to a 33% concentration of salts and minerals, compared to only 3% in the ocean. It contains 10 times more salts and minerals than the Mediterranean Sea. 


While sodium chloride, common table salt, makes up about 80% of the total salt in sea water, the Dead Sea contains a considerably smaller amount of sodium chloride. This low percentage of sodium makes Dead Sea Salt gentle and less irritating to the skin. Dead Sea Salts are mostly made of magnesium, potassium, and calcium chlorides, as well as a high concentration of bromides. The water of the Dead Sea contains 21 minerals, twelve of which are not found in any  other ocean or sea. Some of these minerals are recognized for imparting a feeling of relaxation,  nourishing the skin, activating the circulatory system, and for easing rheumatic discomfort as well as metabolic disorders.  In fact, it has been clinically proven that Dead Sea Salt baths provide relief from Psoriasis when utilized in a recommended six week regimen of 3 baths per week for 20 minute per bath, for 6 weeks. It has also been studied and used (and shown) to improve  various skin ailments, such as; acne, eczema, skin rashes, and even dandruff. The salts and the mud have been shown to tighten the skin, improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, hydrate and moisturize the skin. They exfoliate dead skin cells and leave a more youthful complexion. They also improve the cell metabolism, thereby helping the body to absorb nourishment, as well as eliminate toxins. Health wise, bathing in the Dead Sea salts has been reputed to improve arthritis, bone and cartilage inflammation, rheumatism, reduce stress, fatigue and even sleeplessness. 


It is believed that the therapeutic properties of the Dead Sea are due, in large extent, to the presence of the other salts it contains, mainly those of magnesium, potassium and bromide. It is these natural elements which give the Dead Sea waters their curative powers. Dead Sea Salts, as well as Dead Sea Muds, have been recognized by millions of people as a single source of health and beauty since the days of Herod the Great, more than 2,000 years ago. Even the process by which they are obtained,  fractional evaporation and crystallization, actually serves to enrich the therapeutically valuable potassium and magnesium salts, while retaining all the other mineral elements of the Dead Sea. 


The Dead Sea brine's chemical composition reflects erosion, as well as the recycling of older deposits. Leaching of minerals from the geological strata also contributes to the Dead Sea brine and to a number of thermomineral springs along its shores. In addition, alluvial deposits form the much valued Dead Sea mineral mud, which is also known as Dead Sea therapeutic black mud. 


Products made with Dead Sea Salts and Minerals leave no oiliness on the surface of the skin, and they are equally effective in dry or moist atmospheres. They increase the moisture level and the permeability of the skin, which allows the minerals to penetrate into the deepest layers of the skin, replacing essential minerals which are necessary for retention of moisture and healthy cell growth. Dead Sea Salts mineral composition improves cell metabolism and contributes to its restoration and regeneration. It also acts as a disinfectant and helps in removing harmful substances from the skin. While the Dead Sea is an ideal destination for people seeking relief from rheumatic and skin disorders, as well as vacationers seeking relaxation, if you can't get there, you certainly can bring the Dead Sea's properties into your home bathtub, for relief or just for relaxation! 

What's Happening Wednesday- Preparing for a Show

Our electricity was out from 2am until now, 8:20pm, so sorry this is late!

What's Happening this Wednesday? I am still preparing for an upcoming craft show, the first of the season, and one of the few that I still attend! I have been a part of the Chatfield college Quilt and Craft show for the past three or four years and I always enjoy walking around, just as much as I enjoy selling there. I generally take a bit of everything I make, which makes the set up somewhat challenging, but I sell a bit of everything, so it is a necessary evil.
Since I have a corner spot, I set up  "I_I" shaped. I set one side for dog treats and crafts, and one with all jewelry. My dress makers bodice stands at the corner too, with a display of earrings and bracelets, and is great for catching people's eye from a distance. The front table is always for my bath and body products. I have several nice displays, and I think I can honestly say that I have never set up the exact same twice! LOL

And this year will be no different, because I will be taking a brand new display, one that was just made for me! This soap display was an early birthday gift from my Mom, made by her Amish friends. It is very nice, and solid. It has a stand in the back, which props it up at an angle for great viewing, but is removable for traveling. [The picture shows it standing nearly straight up, but it won't be on the display table.]  The soaps fit into the cubbies, so that they can be separated by scent. I am so excited to have it, and cant wait until it gets the inaugural use! In fact, she actually had two made for me, but was returning home before the second could be completed. So next time she goes up to visit, I will get the other one! How exciting! I now have 24 batches of soap that will be ready for this show, so this one display will be perfect!

Healing Heel & Elbow Cream

Hyacinth soap

I have been very busy in the kitchen lately.  I have revamped my hand and body lotion. Made a great new night cream. Put heel and elbow cream into twist up containers. Made a new perfume, well it's really a personal fragrance oil since I don't use alcohol to make it. Jarred up a Dead Sea Mud Face Mask, and of course, I  have been making soap. In fact, I have made a batch a day for almost two months now, so a lot of soap! So what is happening on this Wednesday is a lot like the past many Wednesdays, I am making things to offer at the show, and in my shops.
What's happening with you this Wednesday?

Tomorrow is Tripod Thursday, so photographs of......? Well you will have to check back to see! But I can tell you that Friday will be a return to the exotic oils series. So make sure you check back in, you wouldn't want to miss anything!  

What's Happening Wednesday

This Wednesday I totally forgot to post what I was up too, so I apologize for doing it so late in the day. I have been very busy making different soap recipes so that I can decide which ones I want to use for my "base" recipes. Right now, I have at least 25 calculated out, and about 15 on my "to try" list. So far I have made 5 different batches, in 8 different scents/scent combinations.

Last night I attempted something I had not attempted before, and maybe should not have, lol! I made one large batch and divided it into three pots at light trace. I poured the first batch into a regular one pound mold

 It has sesame seeds throughout and some extra on top. It is scented with Arabian Spice. You see the crack? That is one reason that I said maybe I shouldn't have attempted this. I took so long to do all that I needed to do, I ran into some complications, and this was one of them. I should have had the lid with me in the kitchen, but I didn't, so it sat and waited while I mixed and poured everything.

Then I mixed another portion with a Berry Wine scent that included blueberry, mulberry and raspberry. Again, with time being an issue, it was very thick and had to be plopped into the mold. I did 2 different colors to mix into it, which didn't help with the time deal either.

And, on top of the time issue, but because of it, I didn't get the pours divided evenly either. So I ended up missing one cavity all together, and having more berry wine than zucchini flower, which was the scent of the last pour. I tinted it a light green and then added a darker green (in the picture it looks gray, but it looks more green in person). Now the berry wine has 2 colors in it, one made from blueberry fibers and the other from cranberry fibers. These should morph from what they look like now, which is a greenish/gray and a deep purple, so it should be interesting to watch!

Tripod Thursdays-Soaps

In keeping with what was happening on Wednesday, I have uploaded pictures of the soap that I made today (actually late last night by my standards, and early this morning by yours, LOL), as well as some others that I have had in my shop during the past several months. The turmeric colored soap that I spoke of yesterday, is gelling and should be ready to cut and set to cure later today or tomorrow. Although it will be weeks before the verdict is in on it, the one I just made is smelling up the house in a wonderful way, and everything went well with its pouring, so I am looking forward to some great soap there! Now I will just have to come up with a name for its scent....hmm, maybe that will call for a contest!

  

The Goo soap is a great childs soap, it's a lot like slime, without the trademarked name! Orange is orange, green is pearberry, and I also have an oatmeal, milk and honey one.

The dog bone soap is a "bug be gone" blend of EO's for the pooch.

The white soapboxes were hand stamped and painted by me.

The green wedge is a sage-lemongrass soap w/ oatmeal.

The soap wrapped in cloth is my "bug begone" blend of EO's for humans.

The bottles are a liquid soap, in a variety of scents.

What's Happening Wednesday-

Yesterday's post on infusions inspired me to get some more chamomile comfrey and calendula steeping.
(-------------This is chamomile being infused into water.
This is calendula, also in water ------)




So, aside from watching a steeping pot steep, what's happening this Wednesday? Well, aside from my slowly, but surely going crazy, I'm not sure! LOL. Okay, so that's not exactly new,  nor is it limited to Wednesdays I know, but  still this is what's going on today!
Last night I made my first batch of cold process soap in quite a long while. Talk about crazy! I have spend a lot of time coming up with new recipes, making ingredient lists, lists of things I want to try, lists of scents I want to create, lists, lists, lists. First to make on that list is a new everyday bar. It looks to be a very moisturizing bar, with good, bubbles, and pretty creamy. So when I finally got the rest of my ordered oils in, I was anxious to make a batch of soap. I spent a few hours of going back and forth, finally deciding that I would use chamomile, lavender, and clary sage for the fragrance,  and I would  use a chamomile and calendula infusion too. A bit more anguishing and I decided on leaving the majority of the soap in its natural color, and adding a swirl of color by using turmeric.

All set, I weigh out all the oils, prepare the water and the lye, and stand ready to make soap. I am all set to get underway when I, for some unbeknown reason, take the entire container of turmeric into the kitchen with me. Silly, silly, girl! Yes, I know better, I can't say what I was thinking, obviously I wasn't. When my soap mixture hit trace a bit fast, I grabbed, and kind of dumped, the turmeric into the mixture, without measuring it. In addition to that mistake, I also retained way too much soap for just a swirl. I actually kept enough for an entire layer. So at this point, I have deeply colored soap, and a layer instead of a swirl.
Before I ever began, I knew that I would have more soap than I needed for one mold, so the plan was to put the excess into a one pound mold  for sample bars. What I wonder is, why, when faced with all this extra colored soap, didn't I just do the planned swirl and pour all of the extra into the mold for sample bars? Talk about loosing your mind! It never even crossed my mind until AFTER I finished pouring it. Just after! LOL. While I will be cutting the soap later today, it will take weeks before I will know if its usable, or if I over did the turmeric, ruining the batch. Oh what fun! LOL.

soap molds

getting ready to make soap

turmeric colored soap

preparing to make soap

 
So, a deep breath, a good nights sleep, and another batch of soap in the plans for later today. Of course I will leave the herb container in the craft room this time, and only take the measured amount into the kitchen. Naturally, I will have to agonize again my choice if scent and color, especially since I am still waiting on the arrival of that last supply box. It has blueberry fibers in it, which I am looking forward to using, so of course, everything I think of would just be right with gray/blue coloring. I am having difficulty coming up with a scent that I can't picture in blue! Lol!  So I am going to sleep on it, and hope that I don't dream in blues, but in a kaleidescope of colors. Then I am going to cut the soap, put it out to cure, and  re-line those molds. Then I am going to measure out whatever colorant I've decide to use, and I am going to prepare to make a big, beautiful swirl!!
Right now my eyes are crossed, and I am fighting to stay awake long enough to finish this post, which is really hard, because all I really want to do is to get to sleep. Of course, the sooner I get to sleep, the sooner I can get up, and the sooner I will be making soap! So I am going to say good night now, but since it's really  early morning, maybe I should say good morning to you, and you can say nighty night to me!

Frankly Speaking Friday- Retail Therapy

TGIF! Yep, it's Friday again, but don't worry, I am not going to go off on another health care rant. This week I am going to tone it back and just tell you what's going on in my world. First and foremost, Sunday will be my youngest Son's 24th birthday, so Happy Birthday Jared!. They grow so very fast. Now he is an old married man and I am the old Grandma! And, as if I wasn't feeling old enough already, I spent a good deal of time on the computer this week, only to wonder when they (considerably) shrunk the print type! Seriously!

Speaking of needing to see the writing, the reason that I was on the computer was to compare prices from my favorite on-line venues. I generally try to make one large order a year for various categories of supplies. This way I save by buying in bulk, cutting the shipping costs, and, at the same time I limit the width of my global footprint. So once a year, in the winter, I try to check the prices for all my current suppliers, while attempting to find a new source or two. Believe it or not, I only began doing this about five or six years ago. Before that, I stuck with the stand up shop that I found years ago. I initially went there for candle making supplies, but when I began making Unique Garden Essences products, I found that they had great essential oils, salts and carrier oils. At that time I lived east of Columbus, Ohio and this is where they were located, so I just drove in. Even after they closed their Columbus shop, I continued to order from their warehouse until they discontinued one of my products. When I had to hunt for a replacement source, I was actually quite fortunate, because I found many, many suppliers that I would never have even seen.  And, although I have yet to find a better supplier of  (certain) oils, I now purchase less than ten percent of my total supplies from them. While this would be soooooo much easier for me if there was one super shop, where all the quality was impeccable and all the prices the lowest, this just hasn't happened yet.

This year's delve into the price/product comparison waters left me knowing that, while I haven't yet found that one super-great, superstore, the four places that I routinely use are very good. Over the years, I have been impressed with the quality of their products and their customer service, so I am quite happy to find that they are still competitive in pricing. I truly wish, however that I could cut one or two out so that i could make that footprint smaller!

Anyway, on this years annual pilgrimage, I found a few new sites that had me flipping through their pages. Earlier this month I mentioned that I was revamping my soap recipes in anticipation of making some cp soap,  after more than a years break. Well, one site I found  has extremely reasonably priced  wood  molds. They also have some great wood tags, as well as displays for all types of bath and body products, not to mention,  they do custom work as well! Ok, so I got excited and added a fifth place buy from instead of cutting down the number, but hey, I did get a really good deal! LOL. If you are a soaper, or if you find yourself in need of wood displays, go and take a look at the Candles and Wood Crafts  website.


I did finally manage to get myself together and place an order with Brambleberry.com. While I wish that I was restrained enough to have only spent the gift certificate that I won,  I wasn't! Lol. I seemed to have found myself "needing" some great sounding fragrance oils and a few other things. I mean, gee, well I can't use my expensive Essential Oils to try out  new soap recipes, can I?  Besides, I did order one product that I could have gotten at another place a bit less expensive, but I put it in with this order to save on that footprint deal! So it made perfect sense to buy a few more extra things. While I think its called "retail therapy",  whatever it's called, I am now waiting on a pretty good sized box from the west coast! Footprint not withstanding, I am soooo excited!!!

With that order placed, still feeling the high of the retail therapy, I went to an old favorite and added a few more goodies. There is something to be said for retail therapy, but I think its more than that. I am really into working the New Years Goals and Plans that I laid out and it feels good to see it coming together. One thing is for sure, I am already finding it difficult to wait on these packages, global footprint not withstanding! After all, I can't be expected to pass up Beet Powder for soap coloring can I ? Lol!

Have yourself a great weekend!